al-Hafiz, for in al-Fath (5/111) he attributed it to Ishaq in his Musnad and to al-Bayhaqi, and made no comment on it. The Musnad of Ishaq, some volumes of which have only recently been published, is not transmitted through this al-Sulami. And Allah knows best.

2948 — “O Fatimah, would you not be pleased to be the leader of the believing women, or the leader of the women of this Ummah?”

Recorded by al-Bukhari (6286), Muslim (7/142–144), al-Nasa’i in al-Kubra (5/96), Ibn Majah (1621), al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar (48–49), Ibn Sa‘d (8/26–27), and Ahmad (6/282), through several routes from Firas, from ‘Amir, from Masruq, who said: ‘A’ishah, the Mother of the Believers, narrated to me:

“We, the wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were all gathered with him; not one of us had left. Then Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, came walking. By Allah, her gait was no different from that of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When he saw her, he welcomed her and said, ‘Welcome, my daughter.’ He then seated her on his right—or on his left—and spoke to her confidentially, whereupon she wept profusely. When he saw her grief, he spoke to her confidentially a second time, and she began to laugh. So I said to her—among all his wives—‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, has singled you out from among us with a secret, and yet you weep!’

“When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, rose to leave, I asked her, ‘What did he confide to you?’ She replied, ‘I would never divulge the Messenger of Allah’s secret.’ After he died, I said to her, ‘I insist, by the right I have over you, that you tell me.’ She said, ‘Now, yes.’ She then told me, saying: ‘As for when he confided in me the first time, he…’”